They have completely different playing styles, and fairly different personalities as well. But simply being high-priced, highly-productive Japanese imports on contending rivals has linked Hideki Matsui and Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki.

Both have insisted they don’t draw any added incentive out of their personal matchups. But yesterday, Suzuki got the better of the Yanks and their rookie outfielder in an 8-6 win at the Stadium.

Matsui went 1-for-4, but left seven men on base as the Yankees dropped the series to a team they are liable to meet again in October. Suzuki went 2-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored – including the game-tying run in a five-run seventh-inning rally – and a great defensive play.

With the bases loaded and one out in the first, Matsui hit a comebacker to the mound that Jamie Moyer fielded and threw home. With two on and one out in the fifth, Matsui hit into a 3-6 fielder’s choice. And with two on and one out in the seventh, Matsui flew out to deep center.

“A couple situations the bases were loaded, and I got a changeup that [Moyer] threw and I didn’t hit it well,” said Matsui, who also had trouble getting to Suzuki’s seventh-inning double.

Suzuki was at his best with the game on the line yesterday. Seattle trailed 4-1 going into the seventh, and with runners on second and third, he doubled to left-center to plate a run, then scored the tying run on Bret Boone’s single.

“I couldn’t see it at first. Once I realized and saw it, it was too late,” Matsui said of Suzuki’s double. “I think it wasn’t the sun itself but the reflection [of] the sun in the stands and what the fans were wearing. Some of the fans were wearing white shirts.”

Turns out it wasn’t even the biggest play of Suzuki’s day. With one out in the eighth and the score tied 6-6, he beat out a bunt single, and – after a walk and hit-by-pitch – scored the go-ahead run on John Olerud’s two-out, bases-loaded walk.

Still, the courteous, gregarious Matsui and the reserved Suzuki have both insisted they pay no attention to their personal matchup.

“[Suzuki’s] not about all the hype. The first time we were in here it was a circus; he was ready to get out of here,” said Seattle manager Bob Melvin. “Once the game starts…he just knows he’s locked in on what he needs to do.

“What he did today, the bunt ends up being huge, the double to left-center was huge,” added Melvin. “It looks like he’s semi-slumping, and to come up with a big hit every time we need it…it tells you something about a guy. He’s done that for us all year.”